Blog #21

The Salem Witch Trials

Written by: Micheal Martin

Illustrated by: Brain Bascle

Capstone Press

2005

32 pages

            I found this book in the library and thought it was a great way to tell this event in American history.  This book, or graphic novel, is a historical fiction story about the Salem Witch Trials.  This event really happened in history, but this graphic novel dramatizes the book in a fictional way. The book’s layout is set so that facts about the event in a rectangle above the illustration while a reenactment-type conversation goes back-and-forth underneath in the illustration.  This book is separated into four chapters that cover the accusations, the trials, and the hanging of the Salem Witch Trials in Salem Village, Massachusetts in the 1690s.

            The illustrations from this book were created by Brain Bascle.  The artwork seems to have been created using _____.  He uses the graphic novel-type format with conversation bubbles and illustrations that show action.  The illustrator uses dark colors to show this dark time in the history of the United States.  Deep reds, browns, blues, and blacks are all used to recreate the scenes for the graphic novel.  Bascle offers a perspective from this work that shows the scenes as if the reader was right there in the crowd experiencing the event.  Also, Bascle uses great expression in the faces of the characters he created.  From throwing fits, to crying, to being angry, to being happy, the expressions upon the faces compliment the text to show the change in emotion in the character.  Tears especially hold meaning throughout the novel.

            I would use this book for children in sixth grade or above.  This book is not appropriate for young children considering that many people are sentenced to die and are actually shown being hanged throughout the story.  This story really happened in the late 1600s.  This time period is not studied until the students reach high school.  I would recommend using this graphic novel in even higher grades like high school when they actually study this event in history and also in literature classes.  This book would be great to review the story before a test or to read the story in a reader’s theater-type context.  I like this text because it is a different way to learn about history.